Gospel Response
Sermon Notes
Today we’re continuing our teaching series called Gospel Revolution, which is about understanding the life changing power of the gospel. The gospel is the primary message of Jesus, it’s a message that has life changing implications for our lives, and one of the things the gospel changes is our motivation. It changes our motivation, it causes us to want to live in a way that displays grace to others. But our natural motivation isn’t to wake up displaying grace. Some of you are like “I’m not displaying grace until I’ve had my 1st cup of coffee!”...You’re not thinking grace when you wake up to kids fighting over watching Bubble Guppies...You’re not thinking grace when you wake up knowing you’ll have to face a difficult job, with difficult employees, or difficult customers...It isn’t our natural motivation!
But the gospel can help motivate us to display God’s grace toward others, and it’ll affect every relationship we have! I mean think about the affects it’d have if more grace was displayed in your marriage...Think about the affects it’d have if more grace was displayed in your family and friendships...Think about the affects it’d have if more grace was displayed in our city and nation...The more grace displayed in our relationships, the better our relationships will be, and that’s what we’re gonna talk about today. So let’s turn to Ephesians 2:1-10 and get into it. You’ll find Ephesians in the last quarter part of your bible, we’ll be in Ephesians 2:1-10. Title of today’s message is Gospel Response, and here’s the big idea. Don’t just receive God’s grace, be a daily display of God’s grace...Don’t just receive God’s grace, be a daily display of God’s grace.
Context:
Here’s your context. The Apostle Paul writes this letter while sitting in prison for his faith in Jesus. The reason he writes this letter is to strengthen Christians in their faith, by reminding them of their identity in Jesus and their unity because of Jesus. In today’s text he primarily focuses on how the gospel makes us alive with Christ. We go from dying to our old way of life, to living a new life with Christ, to being daily displays of the grace of Christ. For those of you taking notes I’ve broken the text down into those 3 sections. It’s From Death (vs 1-3), To Life (vs 4-7), To Display (Vs 8-10). We go from death, to life, to display. Let’s check it out.
The Word:
Ephesians 2:1-10 states this, “And you were dead...” There’s the 1st of the 3 points I mentioned. Paul says you were dead. It’s past tense, meaning you were dead, when you weren’t following Jesus. You were dead, when you weren’t living life with Jesus.
Again vs 1, “And you were dead in your trespasses and sins...” So that’s why Paul says we were dead, it’s because of our ‘trespasses and sins.’ Now there was a time when people in our culture understood this and were even willing to admit they were sinners. But in today’s culture, especially with the younger generation, talking about sin and being a sinner is like speaking a foreign language. They don’t view themselves as sinners or even see their sin as an issue. It’s because they believe in moral relativism, they believe there’s no such thing as moral absolutes. So each person gets to decide what’s moral and immoral, which minimizes sin to matters of personal opinion rather than God’s word. You can’t say to a moral relativist “The bible says this is sin,” because they’ll say “Well that’s your opinion.” But if there’s no standard of morality, then it means we shouldn’t have a society with laws or prisons either which would be disastrous! Everybody knows there has to be a standard of morality, and if there’s a standard of morality, it means there’s trespasses and sins against that standard of morality. Paul says we’ve all trespassed, we’ve all sinned, especially against God’s standard of morality.
Now since we can’t minimize our sin with moral relativism, we’ll sometimes try to minimize it with moral elitism. We’re like “Well at least I’m not as bad as him. At least I’m not as bad as her. At least I didn’t kill anybody.” We try minimizing our sin by comparing ourselves to people we think are worse than us. We might admit we have issues, but we’re quick to point out other people’s issues. I’ve never had a counseling session where a married couple says, “I have a sin problem...No I have a sin problem!..See that’s our problem. She won’t admit I’m the bigger sinner...” I’m yet to do a counseling session like that. But I’ve done plenty of counseling sessions where they’re pointing the finger at each other. I’ve done plenty of sessions where they say “I’m sorry, but...I know I’m not perfect, but...I know I have issues, but...they’re the bigger sinner not me...” In parenting when my kids are yelling at each other I’m sometimes like “Why you yelling? We don’t yell in this family! So stop yelling!” ...Jesus said in Matthew 7:3, “Why do you look at the splinter in your brother’s eye, but don’t notice the beam of wood in your own eye?”...You can’t minimize your sin with moral relativism or moral elitism, but you can admit your sin like Jesus says. We’ve all sinned when it comes to God’s standard of morality.
Again vs 1, “And you were dead in your trespasses and sins 2 in which you previously walked according to the ways of this world, according to the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit now working in the disobedient. 3 We too all previously lived among them in our fleshly desires, carrying out the inclinations of our flesh and thoughts, and we were by nature children under wrath as the others were also.” The Greek word for “fleshly desires” means “to crave something,” kind of like an addiction. Paul’s saying without Jesus we don’t have a sin problem, we have a sin addiction. It’s that we crave sin instead of craving God. The great reformer Martin Luther once defined sin as the human heart deeply curved in on itself, instead of on God. Luther states, “Our nature is so deeply curved in on itself...that it wickedly, curvedly, viciously seeks all things, even God, for its own sake.” He says we do this even with God, meaning we sometimes use God to serve ourselves. We sometimes read our bibles, pray, go to church not craving God, but craving what we can get from God. We see this happening a lot in Orlando where people stick around the church for a little while, but as soon as life gets hard or God doesn’t give them what they want they’re out. They dip out on Jesus, dip out on the church, and it’s because what they were really craving wasn’t Jesus. They were using Jesus to satisfy their own selfish cravings like Luther said. Luther’s point is we’re so self-centered, so curved inward on ourselves, even our attempts to cling to God can be attempts to cling to ourselves. It’s why Paul says we deserve God’s wrath. It’s because we’ve committed cosmic treason by sitting on God’s throne making life all about us, instead of submitting to God’s throne making life all about Him. In another message Luther said, “If I was God and the world treated me like it has him. I would’ve kicked the vile wretched thing to pieces.” Luther and Paul’s point is we don’t deserve God’s love we deserve His wrath. Moral relativism and moral elitism wants us to minimize that, but we need to feel the weight of it. We need to feel the weight of God’s wrath, to appreciate the relief of God’s grace. Our sinful self-centeredness, our cosmic treason, makes us deserving of God’s wrath...
Vs. 4, “But God.......” But God.......That’s the good news of the gospel!........You were dead in your sins, you were deserving of God’s wrath, but God!.......
Vs. 4, “But God, who is rich in mercy, because of his great love that he had for us, 5 made us alive with Christ even though we were dead in trespasses. You are saved by grace!” This is the 2nd of the 3 points I gave you. It’s that we go from death without Jesus, to life with Jesus. In the words of Paul “But God, made us alive with Christ.” He then explains what this means.
Vs. 6, “He also raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavens in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might display the immeasurable riches of his grace through his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.” Notice the verbs are past tense again. He says Jesus ‘raised’ us, he ‘seated’ us with him in heaven. He’s talking about what happens after a person receives the gospel. He’s saying when you receive the gospel, when you believe Jesus died for your sins, you’re instantly forgiven, saved from God’s wrath, guaranteed a seat in heaven with Christ. God instantly accepts you, even delights in you, because of what Jesus has done for you. He took the punishment we deserve for our sinfulness, so God now views us through his righteousness. Jesus didn’t just die for you, he died instead of you...Jesus didn’t just die for you, he died instead of you, so your seat in heaven would be eternally secured. Vs 1-3 are about us putting ourselves on the throne where God should be, but vs 4-7 are about Jesus putting himself on the cross where we should be. Paul’s saying it’s a gift that’s given the very moment you receive the gospel.
Vs. 8, “For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift...” Paul says it’s all a gift. It’s all a free gift of God’s grace, meaning you can’t earn it, you don’t deserve it, but you can receive it through faith in Jesus. This is where our hearts shift from death, to life, to display. We start becoming displays of God’s grace. It happens when we realize how precious, how costly of a gift all this is. What changes us and motivates us isn’t that grace is ‘free,’ it’s that grace is so ‘costly.’ A great 20th Century preacher named Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones illustrated this well. Jones said, “Imagine if a friend of yours said, ‘I was in your home when you weren’t there. Maybe I shouldn’t have looked, but I saw one of your bills on the table, and I paid it for you. I just wanted you to know that.’ How would you feel?...How would your friend paying that bill make you feel?...Well it depends on how big the bill was.” In other words if it’s just the water bill you’d be thankful, but it wouldn’t change your life. But if they paid the entire principle on your mortgage, that’ll change your life. It’ll change your life and you’d be overwhelmed with gratitude and joy. Why? Why react so differently? It’s because of how ‘costly’ the gift was...It’s because of how large your debt was, and how costly it was to pay that debt...This is how God’s grace works with us. We’re to see the massive sin debt we’ve accumulated over the years, the massive sin debt we’ve owed God for our cosmic treason. But then be overwhelmed with gratitude and joy over Jesus paying the bill. We’re to be overwhelmed with gratitude and joy over the great cost he went through, to pay our sin debt in full. The more you recognize the great ‘cost’ of Jesus, the more you’ll appreciate the great grace of Jesus. What changes and motivates us isn’t that his grace is ‘free,’ it’s that it was so costly.
Again vs. 8, “For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift 9 not from works, so that no one can boast.” This goes back to our self-centeredness, and how we sometimes try to manipulate God. We try to manipulate God with our good works hoping to earn His blessings, earn His favor, earn a seat at the table in heaven with Christ. But Paul’s saying salvation is a gift, everything we have is a gift, including our faith. God wants you to have a life where you find so much joy in His gifts, you’ll stop boasting in your works. In fact the word boasting had a much deeper meaning back then. We think it’s about bragging, but back then it was about building up your confidence to face hardships. They did this a lot just before going to war. Think about how scary it’d be to William Wallace it, to literally charge into battle, face hand to hand combat, knowing you have less than a 50% chance of making it home. I don’t care how tough you are, it’d be terrifying! So historically civilizations everywhere would have a huge party, a huge feast just before they’d go to war, and it was full of boasting. They’re like “We have chariots, they don’t! We have 10,000 soldiers, they don’t! We have Goliath, Samson, Brad Pitt from Troy!” They’d get all fired up then head to battle. They boasted to build up their confidence for battle, for facing hardship. Paul’s saying this is how we’re supposed to face life, except we’re to boast in Jesus. We’re to stop boasting in ourselves and start boasting in Jesus, because he’s the one who can help us overcome any difficulties in life. If you do this it’ll affect so many aspects of your life, and help you be a daily display of grace. I’ll give you 3 examples.
#1 You’ll Display Contentment Not Resentment = When you boast in Jesus, when you realize the costly gift he’s given you and that everything you have is a gift from him, you’ll be more content with life. Instead of resenting what you don’t have, you’ll start finding greater joy and contentment in what you do have. It’s because you realize you have so much to boast in, because of the gifts you’ve already received from Jesus...none greater than your salvation.
#2 You’ll Display Acceptance Not Rejection = When you boast in Jesus, when you realize the costly gift he’s given you to be accepted by God, you’ll be more accepting of others. There’s a lot of rejection happening in our society right now, especially over racial injustice and political issues. You can’t talk race and politics with certain people because you’ll be viciously attacked and rejected. But if you boast in Jesus, if you realize you deserve to be rejected by God, you’ll be more accepting of others including those you disagree with. It doesn’t mean you accept their beliefs or sins, it means you accept them as a person who’s created in the image of God. You accept them as a person who needs the grace of Jesus just as much as you do.
#3 You’ll Display Forgiveness Not Bitterness = When you boast in Jesus, when you realize his costly gift of forgiveness, it’ll make you more forgiving. If I hold bitterness against my wife, a grudge against my wife, it’s because in that moment I’m viewing here as a worse sinner than me. I’m think she doesn’t deserve my forgiveness. But I’m much more forgiving when I remember the gospel, when I remember what Jesus has forgiven me of. It causes me to realize this thing I need to forgive her of, is nothing compared to the multitude of sins Jesus has forgiven me of. The more you realize how much Jesus has forgiven you, the more forgiving you’ll be of others. We need to remember we’re sinners 1st, sinned against 2nd. When you boast in Jesus instead of yourself, it’ll change your heart from death, to life, to being a display of grace.
Vs. 10, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time for us to do.” The Greek word for workmanship is poiema. It’s where we get the word poem from, meaning you’re a work of art...When you become a follower of Jesus, his grace turns you into a work of art, a poem, a beautiful display of grace...Some of you want to be a better spouse, better parent, better person. You want to be more content, accepting, forgiving, generous, more faithful to God. If you focus on his selfless love it’ll change your selfish heart, and help you display his grace in your life and relationships. It’ll take you from vs 1–3 to vs 8–10, turning your dead life into a wonderful work of art. Paul says God’s grace has been working in our lives to prepare us for ‘good works,’ prepare us to display His grace in the world.
Tim Keller states, “When God comes into your life, you’ll find that everything that’s happened in your life, even your tragedies, your troubles, everything about you, your age, your ethnicity, your gender, your sufferings, your talents, your weaknesses. All those things make it possible for you to do certain good works in this world, that only you can do. It’s displays of grace God’s been preparing specifically for you.” We go from death, to life, to displays of grace. My friend J.D. Greear often prays, “As you’ve been to me, so I’ll be to others,” meaning as Jesus has been to us, we need to be to others. We can’t say we’ve received God’s grace, but not be motivated to display God’s grace. As Jesus has been to us, we need to be to others.
The Big Idea:
Look the big idea is don’t just receive God’s grace, be a daily display of God’s grace. The stanza in your life might be hard right now, but let his grace be displayed from the battle cry of your heart. See Jesus as the greater warrior stepping on the battlefield where you’re trying to survive, trying to make it through life. See him stepping on the battlefield to bind up your wounds, throw you on his shoulder, and take a spear to the heart for you. Picture him doing that for you. Picture him carrying you on his shoulders, taking a spear to the heart, taking a crown of thorns, taking a beating for you. Then pick your head up in confidence and joy knowing he’s writing a poem with your life that’ll end in great boasting, over the victory of his grace in your life. It’ll end with a song where every stanza, will be turned into a magnificent display of His grace.
COMMUNION
Communion is a reminder for us to realign our hearts and minds with Jesus. It’s a reminder to turn our self-centered hearts back to Jesus, and to focus on his display of grace on the cross. If you haven’t received the gospel, please refrain from participating in communion so we can talk with you about the gospel. We’d rather you learn the importance of the gospel and communion, then go through the motions of it. Jesus told us to do this in remembrance of him, in remembrance of who he is and what he did for us on the cross. So let’s take a few minutes to prepare our hearts, and for those watching online to prepare their tables. Let’s take a few minutes to pray asking Jesus to forgive us of our sins, then let’s thank him for his costly gift of grace...
On the night Jesus was betrayed, he took some bread, gave thanks for it, and broke it saying “This is my body which is to be broken for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins. As often as you eat it, do so in remembrance of me, in remembrance of who I am and what I’ve done for you.” When supper ended he took the cup, blessed it, gave thanks for it, and said “This cup is a symbol of my blood which is to be shed for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins. As often as you drink of it, do so in remembrance of me, in remembrance of who I am and what I’ve done.” City Awakening let’s eat, let’s drink, then let’s sing in celebration of Jesus.